Spinning and twisting apparatus



Dec. 17, 968. 'E. SCHENKEL I 3,416,300

' SPINNING AND TWISTING APPARATUS Filed April :5, 1967 v -4 sheets-sheet1 Dec. 1-7, 1968 I '5. SCHENKEL I I 3,416,300,

SPINNING AND TWISTI-NGUAPPARATUS Filed April 5, 1967 4 Sheeis-Sheet 2 IDec.'17,1968 SCHEQKE L A "13,416,300

SPINNING AND -TWISTING APPARATUS Filed April 5, 1967 4Sheets-Sheet 5"llllllll United States Patent M 3,416,300 SPINNING AND TWISTIN GAPPARATUS Erwin Schenkel, 19 Weinbergstrasse, 7412 Eningen, GermanyFiled Apr. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 627,794 Claims priority, applicationGermany, Apr. 6, 1966, Sch 38,801 6 Claims. (Cl. 5777) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A spinning and twisting apparatus in which a tubular spinningmember has directly attached to its circumference the squirrel cagerotor of a high frequency motor and a conical member and is keptaerostatica'lly floating by compressed air in an air bearing formed of aconical air gap extending around said conical member and an axiallyeffective air gap formed at the base of said conical member andcommunicating with said conical air gap. Both of said air gaps areadapted to be simultaneously adjusted.

The invention relates to a spinning and twisting apparatus provided witha spinning member which is rotatably mounted in a housing and is drivenby a high frequency motor and which by means of compressed air is keptaerostatically floating in its bearing together with a radially andaxially effective air gap bearing. The rotor of the high frequency motoris of the squirrel cage type and operates without bearings of its ownand is directly rigidly connected with the spinning member whose bearingis fixedly connected with the motor stator.

In a prior art device of this kind the spinning can is kept freelyfloating all around in its bearing by compressed air and a squirrel cagerotor of a high frequency motor is rigidly connected to the bottom ofthe spinning can, the rotor having no bearing of its own. The purpose ofthis arrangement is to avoid all mechanical bearing frictions. In theknown device the spinning member consists of a spinning can whichalready in its inoperative position can be put in a floating conditionby means of compresed air, whereby it is prevented from coming intocontact with any stationary bearing surfaces. From this floatingcondition the drive motor due to the extremely low frictional resistanceis able to impart the required high operating speed to the spinning can.In addition to the .advantage of a low starting power in thisarrangement, there is almost no wear on the bearings and the maintenanceis minimal.

The rotation of such spinning members by a rotor of a high frequencymotor which is directly rigidly connected to the bottom of the spinningcan and, having no bearing of its own, is safe in its operation alsowhen there is but a small gap between rotor and stator, is possible onlyby an extremely small tolerance of the air bearing which allows thespinning member to rotate freely floating all around in its axis andwith only minimal geometric motions. It is known that strict adherenceto minimal gap widths is of vital significance for safety of operation,carrying capacity, insensitivity to blows and for economic reasons.These requirements are, however, hard to meet particularly inconstructions of large dimensions.

It is the object of the invention to find a more practical constructionfor air cushioned directly driven spinning members of the aforementionedtype which will comply easily with the requirements stated above.

According to the invention, the rotor of the high frequency motor isdirectly attached to the outside wall of the spinning member which inconventional manner may be a tube or a hollow body.

The advantage of this arrangement is that by moving 3,416,300 PatentedDec. 17, 1968 the rotor from the axis of the spinning member to itsoutside wall into the proximity of the air bearing, the imbalancesgenerated by the spinning member and the motor can be kept down andresulting nutation movements of the operating system can be more easilycontrolled by the bearing. Not only does this make for more stability ofthe system, but placing the rotor on the outside of the spinning memberin the proximity of the air bearing dispenses with a special motorbearing and according to the invention it is possible to omit the bottomof the spinning member and to construct the spinning member in the formof a tube. By this arrangement, a spinning and twisting member isprovided which may be employed in false fiber twisting, but also inendless spinning and in general in all instances where a passingspinning material in the form of a strand, a spinning solution or afiber suspension in a liquid or a gaseous medium is to be set intorotation.

In order to make the air suspended spinning tube safe and economical,again smallest tolerances for the axial and vertical limitation of therotor movements are necessary. For this reason it is expedient that thechiefly radially acting air gap bearing with its air gap be of conicshape and be bounded at its base by the axially acting air gap bearingwith its air gap.

Both of the air gap bearings, i.e., the essentially radially effectivecone bearing as well as the axially effective base bearing, cansimultaneously be adjusted by an axial displacement of the base bearingto the narrowest tolerance possible and can be set and adjusted duringoperation which will substantially facilitate the fine adjustment.

Furthermore, owing to the cone shape of the bearing a rising of therotor during operation is prevented also at high speed. The conicalbearing therefore exerts a stabilizing influence in a twofold 'way.

The axially effective air gap bearing may also be conical. In that caseit is expedient to arrange this air gap bearing for the tube in axialdirection parallel to itself and continuously adjustable and lockable.The adjustment is effected either directly by a fine screw thread or bymeans of a separate adjusting ring.

It is further of advantage that by a spherical shaping of the pressureflanges of the adjusting ring serving as a joint no torque istransmitted to the pressure ring but only axially effective forces ofgreater magnitude.

By attaching the rotor directly to the mantle of the spinning member,the rotor can be cooled by filtered outside air passing through openingsin the top section of the rotor head, thus reducing the thermal bridgebetween the motor and the air bearings.

The stator of the high frequency motor is so built into the outermostbearing member of the base bearing or into an adjusting ring controllingsaid bearing member that it is cooled at its upper end by filtered airdrawn in by suction. This has the concurrent result that by the cool airstream generated by a special fan at the underside of the motor and bykeeping the thermal bridges in the cylindrical portion of the basebearing small, the influence of the heat of the motor on the air bearingis to a large extent obviated.

The spinning member may or may not be provided with a pick-up member forthe spinning material.

Another feature of the invention is that the spinning member isconically tapered in its lower section or is provided with a conicalinsert and the tip is preferably left open, whereby the cone surface isprovided with openings, slits or suitable pores for facilitating a swiftflowing off of the carrier medium due to centrifugal forces. Theopenings, slits or pores arranged inclined to the direction of rotationwill in known manner produce a low pressure in the interior of the coneof the apparatus during operation.

It is also possible to have a low pressure generated outside of theconical surface extend through the openings, slits or pores into theinterior of the cone. All these measures assure a satisfactory and quickelimination of the carrier medium in the spinning material.

The spinning member may consist of a conventional spinning can or of atubular spinning member provided with a bottom.

With these and other objects in view, the invention will now bedescribed in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawing,in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an air suspended spinning member in theform of a spinning tube;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the device illustrated in FIG. 1, butequipped with a special adjusting member;

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of a spinning member with an attachedspinning can;

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of a spinning member in the form of aspinning can; and

FIG. 5 is an elevation view of a spinning member provided with a conicalinsert.

Referring to FIG. 1, a casing 1 has rotatably mounted therein a spinningmember 2 in the form of a tube which in known manner is provided with apick-up member 12 for assuring the rotation of the passing spinningmaterial and is fixedly connected to a rotor 3 of an air bearing. Thespinning member 2 is driven by a high frequency asynchronous motor therotor 7 of which is directly attached to the outer circumference of thetubular spinning member 2 and has no bearing of its own. This ispossible because the motor stator 6 and its rotor 7 are arranged closelyadjacent to the air bearing formed by the parts 1, 3 and 5. Thepermissible tolerance of few millimeters in axial and radial directionfor the functioning of the air bearing makes sure that with thisarrangement of the motor with respect to the air bearing the air gap 1'between the stator 6 and the rotor 7 of the asynchronous motor can bekept sufiiciently small Without using separate motor bearings so thatthere will be no lubrication or maintenance of bearings which is ofparticular advantage. Furthermore, retarding means for preventingnutation motions of the spinning member 2 are no longer needed becauseof the rigidity of the air bearing so that a considerable simplificationin construction and maintenance for the spinning member 2 and the motor6, 7 is achieved.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the conical rotor 3 with its plane baseextending perpendicularly to the axis of rotation forms together withthe upper part of the casing 1 and the concentrically mounted carriermember 5 the air bearing proper with bearing gaps arranged axially at aand radially at b. A pipe 9 extending through the center portion of thecasing 1 supplies compressed air to the bearing gaps by way of theopenings and d, the annular pressure chamber e formed between the casing1 and a collar 4 surrounding the latter, and the circumferentiallyuniformly arranged openings 1'' constructed as throttles on to theconical surface b, on the one hand, while on the other hand the opening0, the annular chamber g and the throttle openings h symmetricallyarranged in the plane supply compressed air to the axially extending gapa.

Owing to the construction of the air bearing as a double cone or, asshown in FIG. 1, as a cone with a base plate, the bearing gaps at a andb can both be adjusted simultaneously and their fine adjustment can beperformed during the operation by displacing the carrier in the lowerpart of the casing 1 in axial direction by means of a fine screw threadi, and the most favorable position can be fixedly adjusted for instanceby a clamping of the casing 1 which is axially split at 1b in its lowerportion in the region of the screw thread i.

The special advantage of the adjustability during the operation residesin the possibility of determining the narrowest air gap width possibleand making operative use of it which is of fundamental importance for asafe operation, the determination of the smallest possible quantity ofcompressed air required and the highest bearing rigidity. Due to itscone shape the rotor 3 is not only radially supported, but it is alsolimited in its movement upward which is another advantage of thisembodiment.

The windings of the motor 6, 7 are displaced downwardly by the annulardistance k from the upper end with respect to the carrier body 5 for thepurpose of permitting a cooling of the motor by the air passing bysuction from the outside through the ducts 12 due to the action of thefan 8 on the lower portion of the spinning member 2 so as to keep heataway from the air bearing. For this reason the ducts p are spaced alongthe entire circumference so that only small bars m remain between thesame as thermal bridges in the carrier body 5.

The ducts p are provided at their outer ends with filter plugs 10 so asto prevent the motor and its windings from becoming dusty or soiled.

The lower bearing body of the casing 1 is provided with a flange 1a andis mounted on a frame portion 11 of the apparatus on top of an elasticmember 11 so that vibrations of the entire aggregate can be absorbed.

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which the fine adjustment may beeffected by means of an adjusting ring 13 which by itself is axiallyadjustable by a screw thread 0. The adjusting ring 13 transmits by wayof a spherical upper end having the radius r the necessary forceeffecting an adjustment of the axial bearing 14 without exerting atorque.

The FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate embodiments of the invention in which thespinning member 2 may be converted into a spinning can of theconventional type. This is accomplished either by loosely or fixedlyattaching a separate can 15 to the spinning member 2 or by providing thespinning member 2 with a detachable or fixed cover or bottom 16.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the spinningmember 2 is employed for separating the fibers from their liquid orgaseous carrier medium, in that the rotating spinning member 2 isprovided with a funnel-shaped insert 20 the conical portion of which hasopenings, slits or pores 17 for permitting the carrying medium in thespinning material to flow off quickly. This procedure is assisted bycentrifugal forces, by a vane-like arrangement of the perforations or byan especially generated vacuum extending up into the funnel of thespinning member. The conical section of the funnel is supported by anannular member 18.

What I claim is:

1. A spinning and twisting apparatus comprising a casing provided with aconical bore and an annular wall extending radially inward from thelarger diameter of said conical bore, a tubular spinning memberextending through said casing and said conical bore, a conical rotorhaving an annular radial end face at its larger diameter fixedlyattached to the outside of said tubular spinning member and disposedwithin said conical bore with said annular radial end face arrangedopposite said annular wall within said casing so as to form between saidrotor and said casing a radially and axially effective air gap bearingfor aerostatically floatingly supporting said tubular spinning memberwithin said casing, means for supplying said air gap bearing withcompressed air, and means for rotating said spinning member, said meanscomprising a high frequency motor having a stator fixedly mounted insaid casing and a rotor fixedly attached to the outside of said tubularspinning member adjacent said conical rotor thereon.

2. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 1, in which saidtubular spinning member is arranged vertically so as to be rotatableabout a vertical axis, and

that the rotor of said high-frequency motor is disposed below saidconical rotor on said tubular spinning member.

3. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 1, in which saidannular wall is formed by a separate annular member and including meansfor axially adjusting said annular member relative to said casing andsaid tubular spinning member, said adjusting means being accessible foroperation from the exterior of said casing.

4. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 3, including afine screw threaded connection between said axially adjustable annularmember and said casing for performing said adjustment.

5. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 3, in which saidannular wall is formed by a separate ring (14) provided with a sphericalpressure surface which 15 serves as a ball joint and engages thecountersurface of a pressure ring (13) which is axially adjustablymounted in said casing.

6. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 1, in which therotor of said high-frequency motor is provided on one end thereof withopenings which are in communication with filter plugs containingpassages in said casing for admitting filtered outside air for coolingsaid stator and rotor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain.Great Britain.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner.

20 W. H. SCHROEDER, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. R.X.

